Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.In American, although most men still do less housework than their wives, that gap has been halved since the 1960s. Today, 41 per cent of couples say they share childcare equally, compared with 25 percent in 1985. Men's greater involvement at home is good for their relationships with their spouses, and also good for their children. Hands-on fathers make better parents than men who...
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Read the following passage and mark the letter A, B, C, or D to indicate the correct answer to each of the questions.
In American, although most men still do less housework than their wives, that gap has been halved since the 1960s. Today, 41 per cent of couples say they share childcare equally, compared with 25 percent in 1985. Men's greater involvement at home is good for their relationships with their spouses, and also good for their children. Hands-on fathers make better parents than men who let their wives do all the nurturing and childcare. They raise sons who are more expressive and daughters who are more likely to do well in school - especially in math and science.
In 1900, life expectancy in the United States was 47 years, and only four per cent of the population was 65 or older. Today, life expectancy is 76 years, and by 2025, it is estimated about 20 per cent of the U.S. population will be 65 or older. For the first time, a generation of adults must plan for the needs of both their parents and their children. Most Americans are responding with remarkable grace. One in four households gives the equivalent of a full day a week or more in unpaid care to an aging relative, and more than half say they expect to do so in the next 10 years. Older people are less likely to be impoverished or incapacitated by illness than in the past, and have more opportunity to develop a relationship with their grandchildren.
Even some of the choices that worry people the most are turning out to be manageable. Divorce rates are likely to remain high, and in many cases marital breakdown causes serious problems for both adults and kids. Yet when parents minimize conflict, family bonds can be maintained. And many families are doing this. More non-custodial parents are staying in touch with their children. Child-support receipts are rising. A lower proportion of children from divorced families are exhibiting problems than in earlier decades. And stepfamilies are learning to maximize children's access to supportive adults rather than cutting them off from one side of the family.
Question 3. According to the writer, old people in the USA ____.
A. are experiencing a shorter life expectancy
B. receive less care from their children than they used to
C. have better relationships with their children and grandchildren
D. may live in worst living conditions
Question 31: Which could be the best title of the passage?
A. Adverts turn TV viewers off.
B. Commercial breaks increase productivity.
C. TV commercials are no longer in favour.
D. Modern advertising is an advantage.
Question 32: The phrase “the programmes” in paragraph 1 refers to ________.
A. reality shows B. the ABC channels C. American dramas D. the adverts
Question 33: The word “probable” in paragraph 2 mostly means ______.
A. causing worry B. unable to believe
C. very difficult to deal with D. likely to happen
Question 34: According to the passage, previously all of the ABC channel’s dramas________.
A. lasted 40 minutes B. consisted of 4 parts
C. had six segments D. were divided into 5 separate parts
Question 35: Which of the following is TRUE about game shows as stated in the passage?
A. Quiet scenes in game shows are important factors in attracting people’s attention.
B. It is possible to make them as six-part programmes.
C. They rely neither on violence nor melodramatic scenes.
D. They attract TV viewers by adverts lasting for three minutes
Recently fans of top soaps, dramas and reality shows in the USA have started to get angry about the number and frequency of the adverts in the middle of the programmes. Sometimes it seems that the adverts are more important than the programmes themselves. For example, American dramas aren’t as long as they
were in the past. Nowadays in the US, an “hour- long” drama lasts about 40 minutes, whereas in the 1980s the programmes lasted 48 minutes. The rest is adverts.
The ABC channel had slightly more adverts than other channels. But recently they’ve changed, which is even worse than before! Before, all their dramas had four sections. But now its producers separate each programmes into six sections. Usually the first section is approximately ten minutes long. Then they have the first break. When people have watched a programme for ten minutes, it’s much less probable that they will stop watching or change channels. But then, in the next 45 minutes, there are four more commercial breaks. Each break is about three and a half minutes long.
All of this makes it much more difficult for dramas’ writers to write good stories. Quiet scenes make no impact because there are more and more adverts which are longer and longer. “It’s OK for game shows or more exciting adventure series” says American TV producer David Kelly. “But for programmes that don’t depend on violence or melodramatic scenes, it’s more difficult to make a story with six sections. The only thing you can do is be more aggressive, either with the music or the visual impact, just to attract people’s attention after the adverts”.
Question 31: Which could be the best title of the passage?
A. Adverts turn TV viewers off.
B. Commercial breaks increase productivity.
C. TV commercials are no longer in favour.
D. Modern advertising is an advantage.
Question 32: The phrase “the programmes” in paragraph 1 refers to ________.
A. reality shows B. the ABC channels C. American dramas D. the adverts
Question 33: The word “probable” in paragraph 2 mostly means ______.
A. causing worry B. unable to believe
C. very difficult to deal with D. likely to happen
Question 34: According to the passage, previously all of the ABC channel’s dramas________.
A. lasted 40 minutes B. consisted of 4 parts
C. had six segments D. were divided into 5 separate parts
Question 35: Which of the following is TRUE about game shows as stated in the passage?
A. Quiet scenes in game shows are important factors in attracting people’s attention.
B. It is possible to make them as six-part programmes.
C. They rely neither on violence nor melodramatic scenes.
D. They attract TV viewers by adverts lasting for three minutes.